https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7bs2Lih0Y&t=386s Autoscope / Experiemnt/ 2019 / Edale/ UK / Thanks to Andrew P Brooks! Extracts from an experiment with the Autoscope, to see if the feeling of disembodied/remote presence is amplified through taking on a challenging physical task, and to explore how this affects our perception of the landscape. Thanks to Andrew P Brooks for film and photography. "Autoscope builds on laboratory-based simulations of out of body experiences; the portable device allows the participant to freely navigate the world, experiencing themselves in 3rd person, as part of the landscape via a live video feed to a head-mounted display. The visual mechanisms are important in this illusion, but tactile and sonic stimuli further strengthen the effects. http://antonyhall.net/blog/tag/autosc...
Workshops
Documentation and notes from workshops
Drawing for problem-solving BEAM Lab UoM
It was interesting to do this workshop on drawing with a group of scientists especially a group of experimental psychologists. Many of the activities in the workshop are used in this field. These can be thought of as an alternative to the questionnaire - a form of visual assessment. The draw a person test is a classic example - but there are many more contemporary examples. Feedback from this workshop has resulted in an idea for another workshop 'Drawing everyday objects and thoughts' As there seems to be a need for a workshop to help people so get more confidence in drawing as a prerequisite to this workshop.
Drawing for problem-solving Bruntwood SciTech
[Above participants drawing of how to make toast] This was the first of the ‘Drawing for problem-solving’ workshops which took place as part of the Bruntwood SciTech's Reconnect Festival. It draws together a number of experiments from both science and art. that I use in my own work for research and as a perceptual tool. Thanks to all those who took part!
Para-Lab Meander
A workshop with para lab. This one was another 'meander' process, I created this bottle with instructions and hand drawn illustrations, a different one for each. Ee walked around manchester and collected mosses, the route took us through some back streets and along the canal. Finally, we stopped at 'Home' constructed bottle gardens while chatting and drinking coffee.
Object without perception: Obscurist edition
Another Object without perception workshop took place online in the form of the Obscurist edition [an extremely limited edition of 1] which included content designed especially for Wes Whites Wedding Ritual Project. A video was used during the workshop with flickering blue and white frames which provided the visual stimulus for the ganzfeld experience. Object without perception: Obscurist edition Object without perception: Obscurist edition Using the screen sharing facility of Zoom made for a strange intermittent, irregular flicker. Having run out of ganzfeld goggles I participated with my eyes closed.
Para Lab – Meander~Delta
On the 28th / 06/2020 Para lab met up at Brunclough reservoir. Everyone was tasked with creating ’a device to test the material properties of a thing’. I produced an edition of 15 Meander~Delta objects [drawings and text contained within a petri dish] with which to collect things and make notes, I also brought a homemade tardigrade extractor [salad spinner]. The wind and rain on occasion proved to be too disrupting to do any detailed work – or too difficult even speak to each other… https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEcx1-F7fD/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet https://www.instagram.com/p/CB-3MrkllD6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet https://www.instagram.com/p/CCBafc3F-2n/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Object Without Perception / Proximity / CV19 Edition 01/07/2020
This was the first of a series of virtual [zoom] workshops created as a response to social distancing and the CV19 epidemic. A workshop resource was created and posted to participants, who were also required to complete an online questionnaire before and during the workshop as a way to create psychometric profiles and also to collect results. Participants were also invited to leave feedback in the form of a product review. The Object without perception resource http://antonyhall.net/blog/product/object-without-perception-proximity-cv19-edition/ See the workshop details here... http://antonyhall.net/blog/product/object-without-perception-proximity-cv19-edition/ Bubbles of Perception Participant Profiles [results from online questionnaires] Ganzfeld experience in progress
Self-isolation
Ganzfeld Variations [Translucent paper cylinder method] From a manual of ‘practical experiments’ I am creating based on my workshops. These are activities and experiments that can be easily performed at home. They are aimed at changing perceptions, heightening awareness of the senses, and ‘making strange’ of the everyday experiences. Since things seem to be returning to normal rapidly. Perhaps, despite the macabre undertone, you also found something interesting and somehow comforting, about the trafficless streets, the quietness and lack of other humans. In which case here is some free instructional art, a proposition, to make things strange/even stranger for yourself, and others who might see you doing this. Instructions for making: 1/ Cut section of greaseproof paper long enough to wrap around your head. 2/ Secure with tape to make
Mirror Gaze Experiment @MSP
I have been working with Manchester Science Partnerships to develop a range of workshops for their customers, the resident companies that use the park. The first session was the 'mirror gaze experiment'. During the mirror gaze experiment [MGE] participants are asked to stare at their own reflection in a mirror in a nearly dark room. An outline of the head is visible as a faint silhouette. In this state of partial sensory deprivation, the brain struggles to make sense of the information it sees. Forms and shapes begin to emerge as if from nowhere. For many observers, these develop into vivid visual hallucinations “monsters, archetypical faces, faces of relatives, and animals” (Caputo, 2012; Bortolomasi et al., 2014). This
Emergent Strange faces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs48nJo3ukU&feature=youtu.be Emergent strange face from recent workshop at Manchester Science Park A night vision camera captured video during the experiment from behind the mirror[see diagram here]. This used the program Isadora to detect movement using a ‘difference filter’ and building up an image using 'shimmer' and 'motion blur' filters with a long decay rate. An image builds up based on the collective movements of all 3 participants. A collective strange face. Emergent strange face from Proximity project Emergent strange face from Proximity project